June 15, 2017

On the Warriors

I am happy that the Golden State Warriors won this year's NBA championship. After exerting too much energy last year chasing the regular season victory record, this year the Dubs rebounded and handily defeated Cleveland in five games. By now these two teams have played in the championship for three straight seasons, and Golden State has earned two of those titles.

The Warriors play in Oakland, at least for now. Oakland is where our wedding took place, overlooking Lake Merritt. It is also where I lived for many years. This is the city's championship just as much as the team's. And especially now, with the Raiders going and the A's always at risk of leaving and the Warriors themselves leaving soon, this victory is sweet.

Some people say that Kevin Durant should not have gone to Golden State last year, that he "owed" it to Oklahoma City to stick around. That's silly piffle, the stuff of lame ESPN commentary. Kevin Durant was a free agent last year, and he made the choice that worked best for him. He owed nothing to anyone except himself.

That said, Durant's acquisition did stack the deck in Golden State's favor. One team now has multiple shoo-ins for the Hall of Fame: Durant and Curry for certain, Green quite likely. There is, needless to say, a maldistribution of available talent in the NBA right now. It was fun this season. But it will be hard to root for Goliath every time.